Method of and apparatus for demulsifying petroleum



July 14, 1931. c. P. DENNHARDT 3 2 METHQD OF AND APPARATUS FORDEMULSIFYING PETROLEUM Filed Sept. 6, 1927 gwue'ntoz Chester 1?Benn/ram! Patented July 14, 1931 PATENT- OFFICE oHEs'rEE r. DENNHARD'I,oE YLOS ANGELEs, CALIFORNIA METHOD" 015 AND APPARATUS FOR DEMULSIFVYINGPETROLEUM Application filed September 6', 1927. Serial No 217,749.

This invention relates to methods'of demulsifying petroleum and it alsorelates to apparatus by which such methods are performed.

5 An object of the invention is to effect the demulsifying without thenecessity of holding the emulsion in a quiescent state for aconsiderable period of time.

Another object is to efiect the demulsifying '10 continuously so thatthe emulsion can be expeditiously treated while it is flowing from thesource, as, for example, a producing well.

Another object is to efiect a squeezing action upon the emulsion so asto break up the 5 components of the emulsion in order to facilitateseparation of the water from the oil.

Another object is to make provision,where desirable, for efi'icientlytreating the emul-' sion with chemicals.

Further objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detaileddescription.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an apparatus constructed inaccordance with the provisions of the invention and capable of'performing'the new method.

Figurel is an elevation of the apparatus, the upper part of an oil well,together" with a portion of the pump operating mechanism, also beingillustrated.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section of a portion of the apparatusshown in Figure 1, the plane of section beingparallel to the plane ofthe drawing.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line indicated by 33, Figure 2.

Referring first, more particularly, to Figure' 1 of the drawings, thereis provideda squeezer or pressing device, indicated in general by thecharacter 4. This pressing de vice receives the emulsion through a pipe5 fromany suitable source; The emulsion source, in this instance, is anoil well which isindicated at 6. The well 6 may be a flowing one or itmaybe pumped in the usual man- 545 ner, the polish rod 7 of the pumpbeing shown and said polish rod being operated by a walking beam 8 in amanner well understood in the art relating to the pumping of oil wells.A portion of the derrick 9 is also illustrated.

The oil, after treatment in the pressing device 4, together with thewater that was intimately associated with the oil when it entered thepressing device 4, discharges through a pipe 10 to any desired point forrefining. In the present instance, the pipe lO connects with a tank 11in which the oil maybe stored until it is drawn out for undergoing therefining operations. vThe tank 11 may, if desired, be utilized as asettling tank in which the treated oil may be allowed to stand for ashort period of time, one or two hours, for example, so that thewaterwill separate from the oil.

A motor 12 is provided for driving,

through its shaft 13, certain mechanism of the pressing device 4 thatwill be described in detail hereinafter. The shaft 13 is provided with apulley 14: which drives a belt 15 that turns a pulley 16 on the shaft ofa pump 17. The outlet of'the pump is connected b'y a pipe '18 to thelower portion of the pressing device 4 and liquid chemicals are suppliedto the pump 17 through a pipe 19 from a suitable source of supply, saidsource, in this instance, being a tank 20. The pipe 19 is provided'witha valve 21.

Now referring more particularly to F igures 2 and 3 of the drawings, thepressing device is constructed'as follows: A chamber 22 of any suitablesize and shape is provided and, if desired, it may be simply a tank. Inthe present instance, the chamber 22 is cylindrical and the pipe 5communicates therewith near the upper end of the chamber. In thisinstance, the pipe 5 is branched,:one branch entering one side of thechamber and the other branch entering the opposite side. By conductingthe emulsion into the chamber at opposite sides, swirling of theemulsion in said chamber is prevented, the oppositely directed currentspreventing such swirling.

The chamber 22 has lower and upper heads 23, 24. Within the chamber 22is a cylindrical passage 25, the wall thereof, in this instance,depending from the head 24:. The wall of the passage 25 is spaced fromthe wall of the chamber 22 so as to permit the emulsion to flowdownwardly between said walls. The lower portion of the passage 25, inthis instance, is contracted downwardly and terminates in a mouth 26that is spaced 'somewhatfrom the lower end of the chamber 22.

The pipe 10 communicates through the head at with the upper end of thepassage 25. Rotatably mounted within the passage 25 is suitable pressingmechanism which, in this instance, comprises complementary propellers27, 28. The propellers 27 28 are fixed to a shaft 29 which rotates inbearings 30 carried by radial arms 31 that connect with the wall of thepassage The shaft 29 is provided with a miter gear 32 which meshes witha miter gear 33 fixed to the shaft 18. The shaft 13 passes through astuffing box 34 in the side wall of the chamber 22- so as to preventleakage around said shaft. The shaft 13 also passes through the wall ofthe passage 25. The motor 12 operates in a direction to turn thepropeller 27 in a direction to tend to drive the liquid upwardly and toturn the propeller 28 to tend to drive said liquid downwardly. Thus, thepropellers 27, 28 produce pressure upon the liquid as it passes betweensaid propellers. In this instance, the bladesof the propellers 27, 28are turned at an angle that requires the shaft 29 to be driven in thedirection of the arrow thereon in Figure 2, in order to get the abovementioned results.

Positioned adjacent to the mou'th26 and pointing theretoward is a nozzle35 which is attached to the inner end of the pipe 18. Preferablythenozzle 35 is positioned in axial alinement with the mouth 26.

In order to clean out the chamber 22, there is provided a pipe 36communicating with the lower portion of said chamber and said pipe isprovided with a valve 37. l

The invention operates as follows: The petroleum emulsion flows from thewell 6 through the pipe 5 under the pressure of the well or under anyother suitable pressure into the upper portion of the chamber 22. Theemulsion flows downwardly around the passage 25 and there is thusestablished a hollow column of the emulsion. The emul sion fills thelower portion of the chamber 22 and then passes into the mouth 26 andaround the gears 32, 83. These gears, operating, function not only toturn the propellers 27, 28, but to stir and mix the emulsion withwhatever chemicals may previously have been supplied thereto. It is tobe understood that it may not always be desirable or necessary to employchemicals, but if so, the chemicals may be conveniently supplied andintimately mixed with the emulsion by opening the valve 21, thus causingthe chemicals to be sprayed into the emulsion as said emulsion passesinto the mouth 26. Whether or not chemicals are employed, the emulsion,as it accumulates in the chamber 22 will flow upwardly into the spacebetween the propellers 27, 28 and here the emulsion will be squeezed orpressed, since the propeller 27 drives the emulsion upwardly and thepropeller 28 retards the upward flow and. tends to drive the emulsiondownwardly. The term squeezed or other allied expressions employedherein defines the function of being compressed, and not a mere pressingtending to change shape without diminution in volume. Contact of thepropeller blades with the emulsion will, to some extent, break up theemulsion and the pressure exerted upon the emulsion will further aid inbreaking up the emulsion so that the oil and water will freely separatewhen an opportunity is afforded. As the flow of the emulsion into theclimber 22 proceeds, the oil and water, that formerly constituted theemulsion, are forced past the propeller 28 into the space above saidpropeller and thence into the pipe 1 0 and discharged from the pipe 10into the tank .11. The water that has been freed from the oil drops tothe lower portion of the tank .11 and is "drawn off through the waterdrain pipe 38 which enters the lower portion of the tank. The clean oilis removed from the tank '11 througha pipe 39 that enters the upperportion of sai-dtank.

An example of the efficient cleaning of emulsified petroleum is asfollows: Dinty 'oil 9 of a gravity of 217 .Baum was run through theapparatus in which were employed the chemicals hereinafter mentioned :inthe proportions set forth. 0n test, this oil showed 54% emulsion. Theclean oil that resulted 0 showed a gravity of 378 Bzaum and There was1.5% free water.

The apparatus and method :may be -oper ated continuously, sincetheoiland'water discharging from the apparatus may :be filled 1-1 successivelyinto any number oftan ks corresponding to the tank It will be readilyund'e'rstood from th'efol e going that the propellers squeeze theemulsified petroleum, not only, but that they also 1 function to beat,whip and violently agitate said petroleum. The beatingand whipping, aswell as the squeezing operation, tend to break up the globules oftheemul'sion and to cause coalescence'of'the water globules. One of thepropellers drives th'eemulsified petroleum in one direction-andftheother propeller retards the flow in said direction and *thus producesback pressure =on the petroleum.

Any :suitable chemicals maybe employed to produce a counter colloidaction. If the emulsions are of the water-in-oil type, and 7 they areinvariably of such type, they may be resolved by using, for example, thefollowing substances:

Per cent Sodium oleate 83. 00 Sodium resinate 5. 50 Sodium silicate 5.00

10 Phenol 4. 00 Parafiin 1. 50 Water 1. 00

The chemicals employed will, of course, depend upon the type of emulsionto be dealt with and, as has been explained above, the liquid chemicalswill be sprayed into the stream of emulsified petroleum.

In a recent comparative test of my method with an old method ofdemulsifying petroleum, 1500 barrels of emulsified petroleum from thesame source were treated. By the old method 84 hours were required and atemperature of about 180 was employed. Agitation was effected with gas.By my method the demulsification and separation required but 36 hourswithout artificial heating of the oil, and less chemicals were employedthan necessary in the old method.

I claim: 1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a meansforming a passage, a nozzle positioned to throw a spray into saidpassage, a means to supply a liquid chemical under pressure to thenozzle, and a means within the passage to squeeze a liquid flowingthrough the passage.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising a chamber, a meansto supply a stream of emulsified petroleum to the chamber, a meansforming a passage in the chamber opening at one end thereinto, a nozzlepositioned adjacent to the mouth of the passage and pointingtheretoward, a means to supply a liquid chemical under pressure to thenozzle, and a means within the passage to squeeze the petroleum while itis passing therethrough.

3. An apparatus of the character described comprising a'chamber, a meansforming a passage extending from one end of the chamber toward the otherend and terminating at its inner end in a mouth opening into saidchamber, a pipe communicating with the passage through the firstmentioned end of the chamber, a second pipe communicating with thechamber near the first mentioned end thereof, and a means within thepassage to squeeze petroleum as it passes therethrough. fin Signed atLos Angeles, California, this 12 day of August, 1927.

CHESTER P. DENNHARDT.

